
THE FAIRY 
HOU5EREEFER5 

NORMA BRIGHT CARSON 



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WHEN THE FAIRIES FISHING GO 


THK 

TAIRYilODSEKEETERS 


JBY 



BOSTON 


LOTHROF, LER 5HEFARD CO. 




COPYIIIGHT, 1917, 

BY 

Lotheop, Lee & Shepard Co. 

All Rights Reserved 
Published^ April, igi^ 


\ 




MAY -2 1917 


©CI.A460555 

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5’OMTDA’UGHTER 
J)OROTHY 
BRIGHT 
CARSOir 


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jgVERY mother of children is asked to 
tell me a story, please, and every 
mother wants to find some entertaining little 
tales that will interest and will at the same 
time add something to the mental store of her 
babies. The Faiky Housekeepers is not all 
fancy; under the tissue of each tale lies a 
framework of fact. The interested mother 
can make these pleasant fairy people very real 
to her child, and when the boy or girl has 
learned to know the fairies, he or she will also 
7 


INTRODUCTION 

know many things about the workings of 
Nature that will prove valuable in years to 
come. 

The child who is reared to live near to 
Nature and to appreciate natural beauty will 
possess a treasure of the mind and heart that 
no circumstances of life can quite take away. 

These little tales are about the fairies who 
help good Mother Nature to keep house. The 
house is the big, wide world, and Nature and 
the fairies make it green with grass, fragrant 
with flowers, and bright with the colors of 
woods and gardens. It is a wonderful house, 
in which boys and girls may live, and may 
learn to love the miracles that bring the 
spring, the summer, the autumn and the 
winter. 


8 



The Seeing World Cleaning : 


Fairy Needles {Poem) .... 13 

1 . Mother Nature Wakes the Fairies . 15 

2 . An April Coronation Day ... 27 

3 . The Fairies Have a May-Party . . 41 

How THE Fairies Work in Summer : 

1 . June Roses and a Wedding ... 55 

2 . Making July Fields and Gardens . 69 

3 . The Fairies by the Sea ... 83 

4 . When the Harvest Comes ... 91 

9 


WHAT THE STORIES ARE 


Autumn Peeparedness : 

1. September and the Fairies^ School . 105 

2. Getting Ready for Invasion . . 118 

3. Jack Frost Makes a Journey . . 128 

In Grandfather Winter’s Reign : 

1. The Fairies’ First Aid” to Santa 

Claus 143 

2. When Old Winter Arrives . . . 150 

3. A Bird Story 161 

4. One Little Fairy Says Farewell . 171 



10 


CTHE 

SPRING^ 

<^ORLD 

CLEANING^ 




FAIRT NEEDLES 


There^s a thousand busy workers in the forest 
glades to-day, 

Mother Nature has commanded all the fairy 
folk away 

From their winter jubilation in the caves 
beneath the hills, 

For ^tis time to dress the trees up and give the 
woods their frills. 

So each fairy takes her needle — pine it is, and 
sharp and long — 

And sits down to do her sewing, while she 
sings a little song. 

Don^t you hear the needles clicking, as the 
hours go swiftly by ? 

Don’t you hear the voices humming as the 
breezes linger nigh ? 

Oh, it’s a busy world in Springtime, when the 
fairy needles ply, 

And the stitches into garments for the leaves 
and flowers fly. ' 

What a host of Easter bonnets must the fairy 
sewers make. 

What innumerable stitches must the long pine 
needles take! 


13 




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VAKES THE FAIRIES 


HERE came a day when the good, kind 



Mother Earth, whose other name is 
Madame Nature, looked up and greeted the 
Sun with a cheerful nod and a smile. 

“ Good-morning, Master Sun,” she said 
brightly. “ Pray, tell me, do you not think 
that it is almost time for Spring to be here ? ” 
At that the old Sun wrinkled up his 


15 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

shining face and burst into loud, hearty 
laughter. 

** Why, sure enough, good Mother Earth,’’ 
he answered. You remind me that only 
yesterday I peeped into the woods down 
yonder, and there I saw a merry face peering 
out at me from the hole in the old oak-tree 
beside the river. Just for fun I sent a big, 
bright beam to shine over the oak, and then 
I heard a little giggle, as the face went back 
into the tree. I just wonder, now, if that 
could have been our little Miss Spring?” 

It might have been one of her wood- 
nymphs,” Madame Nature suggested. “ At 
any rate, if you intend to go on shining as 
you shine to-day I think I had better hunt 
up that naughty Spring, or she will forget 
her duties and go on napping the days away 
in her comfortable tree-trunk. As for those 
16 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

lazy fairies, I think they have slept long 
enough anyway. It must be almost six 
months since the last of the flower fairies 
cuddled up under the autumn leaves down in 
the wood dells ; while the fleld fairies have 
had a flne rest under my warm winter ground 
blankets. When I walked through the woods 
to-day I saw a thousand buds full to bursting, 
but if I do not give them each a tap, the 
fairies inside of them will go on dreaming 
hour after hour, and never remember at all 
that the world is waiting for the flowers to 
open. I wish, Mr. Sun, that you would send 
some sharp, hot rays down among those violet 
leaves in the glade below here. And yes, 
some broad beams poured over the tree- 
boughs and among the dead leaves in the 
forest would be a great help to me ; 
for they would make my little house- 
17 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

keeper people sit up and rub their sleepy 
eyes awake/’ 

With that Mother Earth laughed again 
good-naturedly, for really, you know, this 
kind, great nature mother truly loves her 
fairy children, just as your mother loves you. 
For the fairies are Nature’s children, and 
there are thousands and thousands and thou- 
sands of them. JThere are flower fairies ; grass 
fairies and tree fairies ; water fairies and sand 
fairies ; wind fairies and rain fairies ; snow 
fairies and cave fairies. And all of them 
are the little housekeeper fairies who help 
Madame Nature to make the world w^onder- 
ful, and to bring the spring and the summer, 
the autumn and the winter. 

Sometimes, like all children, the fairies try 
the patience of their good Earth Mother. 
For they lie asleep in flower cups when they 
18 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


should be painting leaves green and petals 
pink and purple. Or they go fishing among 
the pond-lilies when they ought to be fill- 
ing the seed-pods ; or they play hide-and- 
seek by the brook when they are wanted 
to gather up the dead leaves on the fioor of 
the forest. 

However, Mother Earth knows how to 
manage her housekeeper people. Now and 
then she has to punish them, but for the most 
part they obey her will. 

Madame Nature lives in a great cave under 
a high hill. She has four mighty sons — the 
North, the South, the East and the West 
Winds. For days and days she sits by a 
huge fire in her cave and spins, while her 
children do the work out in the world. But 
when one season goes and another is ready to 
come, she leaves her home, and is carried 
19 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


hither and thither in the great airships of her 
wind sons. Then, everywhere she goes, she 
shows the fairy people how to perform miracles 
with flowers and leaves an*d ice and snow. 



For Days and Days Nature Sits by a Huge Fire 
and Spins. ’’ 


Once a year Madame Nature wakes the 
flower and the tree fairies, so that they can 
clean and decorate the world-house for a great 
event. This is the crowning of little Queen 
20 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


Spring. Each year this pretty maiden, 
dressed in palest green and wreathed with 
flowers, comes out from her comfortable win- 
ter quarters and dances through the world, 
making what we know as the Springtime. 
Spring is always young, and so the world she 
lives in must be young as well, and must be 
fllled with gay colors and with bright sunlight. 

Therefore, Mother Earth and her kind 
friend. Master Sun, watch for the day when 
everything seems ready for the Spring. And 
now the time had arrived, and so Mother 
Nature has hunted up the Sun and has asked 
for his help. 

“ I’ll have some yellow Are that will scare 
those lazy children,” the Sun promised. 
With that he sent a little ball of Are bursting 
through the air. It struck the great oak-tree 
down by the river and there followed a sharp 
21 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


scream. After that came the sound of dancing 
feet. At the big hole in the tree’s trunk a face 
appeared ; then a tall door in the tree’s trunk 
flew open. Out flocked four of the prettiest 
girls you have even seen. Their dark hair 
waved about their heads ; their dresses were 
short smocks of woven brown leaves ; their 
arms and legs were bare, and they did not 
walk — they danced. Mother Nature came 
slowly and srnilingly down the slope. Each 
one greeted her with a warm kiss and a hug. 

Naughty nymphs,” she said reproach- 
fully. What have you done with Spring? ” 
At that they laughed and danced still 
more gaily. '' Shut your eyes. Mother dear,” 
they commanded. “ Give us your hand — 
now, here I ” Then they sprang away, and 
Madame Nature found herself holding a soft 
little hand in her own strong, brown one. 

22 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 



Mother Nature Found Herself Holding a Soft, 
Little Hand. 

23 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


When she opened her eyes, there stood Miss 
Spring, dainty and sweet as a tall, white 
flower ; all around the tree danced tiny fairies, 
their wings shimmering with dewdrops, and 
their faces merry with delight over the sur- 
prise they had given Mother Nature. 

‘‘ Well, well,^^ the good Mother laughed. 
“ And so you did think to astonish me ! 
However, I am ready for work ; the question 
is, are you ? 

Yes, yes,^^ they cried, all eagerness to run 
away and start. But first. Nature had to see 
that Spring was all right. She looked her 
over, felt her thin dress of leaf-lace, and 
tucked the cluster of spring buds more 
securely in her hair. Then she ordered the 
fairies to follow, and she and Spring, hand in 
hand, with the wood-nymphs behind them, 
marched away from the oak-tree and started 
24 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


out through the forest. Everywhere from 
under their feet dead leaves stirred lightly, 
and tiny fairies sat up or stood before them 
suddenly, rubbing their eyes with their fists 
and looking for all the world like sleepy 
children who have been waked without 
warning. But one and all they scrambled up, 
smoothed their crumpled wings and washed 
their faces in the tiny pools of dawn dew. 

Then Spring and Mother Nature bent to 
the Earth and touched it here and there with 
their fingers. And behold ! grass sprang up, 
fresh and green, and tiny hidden buds un- 
folded into soft, emerald-colored leaves. And 
out of each leaf there stepped a dainty fairy 
person, sometimes a golden-haired little girl 
fairy, w'^ith wings like a butterfly ; sometimes 
a small brown elf with a peaked cap formed 
of a fresh leaf : one and all they greeted 
25 


( 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

Mother Nature and sweet Spring with a 
happy laugh. One and all they joined in 
the procession that wandered over the hills 
and through the valleys, singing gay little 
snatches of song and touching everything 
they came upon with new life, gathering, as 
they went, a whole host of other fairies, 
whose sleep has been ended by the joyous 
music of this happy throng. 



26 



"VTOW I know that you are going to ask, 
What is a coronation day ? Well, a 
coronation day is a crowning day. There 
must, of course, be a king or a queen to 
make a crowning day possible, and, in the 
story we are going to tell, the queen is the 
27 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


beautiful young girl who came out of 
the big tree-trunk, and whose name is 
Spring. 

A crowning day takes a great deal of prep- 
aration. For the crowning of Spring, Mother 
Nature has to make use of all the little fairy 
housekeepers she can find in the fields and 
the woods. What a sweeping and a scrub- 
bing and a washing and a polishing there 
must be in the fine old world before Mother 
Nature is satisfied to have Spring put on her 
crown and become a queen. Queens live 
in palaces, you know, and Mother Nature’s 
great, beautiful world is Queen Spring’s pal- 
ace. So, the palace must be bright and 
clean, and filled with gay colors and fra- 
grance, and with the songs of many birds. 
For Queen Spring is young, and she must 
be made merry and kept happy. If things 
28 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


go wrong she is likely to pout and frown 
and even shed tears ; and then the people 
in the world will say, “ Oh, that naughty 
Spring I She’s crying again, and now we 
shall have spring rains, and our frocks will 
get wet and mussy I ” 

Down in the woods, each morning during 
the days that Nature is preparing for the 
crowning of Spring, the boy and girl fairies 
roll out of their light leaf-blankets with the 
first sun-ray. With gay laughter they hunt 
for the pools of dew that lie in the brown 
acorn cups under the oak-trees, and wash 
their hands and their faces in the cool, re- 
freshing water. Then they comb out their 
shining hair with their brushes of pine 
needles, and dry their moist wings in the 
young sunshine. Breakfast among fairies 
is really a very simple matter, for fairies 
29 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


are tiny and cannot eat much at a time. 
Often enough the morning meal means no 
more than a tiny drink of honey-sweet, 
warmly fragrant dew sipped from the heart 
of a violet, or a few juicy, sticky horse-chest- 
nut leaf-buds, which, I am told. Spring fairies 
find wonderfully good. 

Breakfast over, one and all the fairies go 
to work. With tiny brushes they paint the 
leaves — which are very young and tender — 
a ^bright, beautiful green. They touch up 
the first fiowers with bits of color ; some of 
the fiowers they actually make, from stray 
snatches of cloud-drift and drops of sunshine. 
Under the trees they lay thick rugs of moss, 
and then they wash away the dust that 
the naughty winds have spilled over the 
branches, until each branch is sweet and 
clean and shiny. Sometimes there is so 
30 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


much dust that the tiny fairies just have 
to sit down and sigh over it in despair. 

“ What shall I do with those maple-trees 
there ? Johnny Elf asks May Fairy. 



“ Ask Mother Nature to have the Rain 
send a shower along/^ is May Fairy’s sug- 
gestion. So Johnny Elf scrambles into a 
tree-trunk and picks up a pine-cone re- 
ceiver that belongs to the Fairy-land tele- 
31 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

phone system. Then he talks to Hill Cave 
1 - 0 - 5 . 

“ It’s all right,” he reports to May Fairy, 
when he returns to the grassy slope where 
she is busy tying long tendrils to a wild 
honeysuckle vine. As soon as Rain can 
be found, Mother Nature will send him.” 
And sure enough, in a very little while, 
during which time Johnny Elf has cut out 
at least a hundred leaf patterns, they hear 
the soft sough ” of the Wind’s cloud-ship, 
and soon the gentle patter of the Rain’s drops 
tells that a baby spring shower is helping 
along the housecleaning work. 

Hour by hour now the trees grow greener 
and the grass grows thicker. The bluebells, 
given by the sky, are set by fairy fingers in 
the deep moss-rugs beside the brooklets ; now 
the lilies-of-the-valley, bits of white cloud 
*32 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


dipped in star-shine, have been fixed on 
slender stems among groups of highly-pol- 
ished, carefully-designed dark leaves. 

In the gardens the new grass carpets have 
been laid, tacked down all round with plants 
placed there by fairy fingers. Here and there 
the sun has dropped a ball of gold-shine and 
lo I a crocus rises up to smile away the 
winter’s dullness. Then a tulip, fashioned in 
a sunset, bows before a stately iris late from 
Rainbow-Land, and a perky little Robin, 
passing, calls a greeting to the fiowers as he 
hops along the roadway bearing messages to 
the different groups of fairy workers from 
sweet Spring herself. 

Once again the good Earth Mother leaves 
her cave and calls up to the Sun. 

And what of a fair day to-morrow ? ” she 
asks smiling. 


33 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

Fair it shall be,” the old Sun answers. 
“ My blessing in a million sun-rays on the 
day I And may the Maiden Spring reign 
well and happily,” he finishes, like the 
courtly old gentleman that he is. 

Thereupon Mother Nature calls her rude 
sons, the East and the North Winds, and 
bids them begone to the mountains for a 
holiday. For these two sons are likely to 
start some new and noisy game just at the 
time when Nature wants the world all quiet. 

Early in the morning of the great day that 
is to see Spring crowned. Mother Nature puts 
on a new leaf dress of delicate green, fastens a 
great bunch of dewy violets at her waist, and 
standing on the hill above her cave, calls for 
the South Wind to bring his chariot, for she 
is ready to go for Spring. 

The chariot of the South Wind is really a 
34 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


great airship. Mother Nature is carried in it 
to the dell beside the river, where Spring is 
being robed for her coronation. Here are 
fairies and wood-nymphs, and birds and 
squirrels and rabbits, and other small crea- 
tures of the forest. Every one is clean, and 
dressed in his and her best. The fairies’ 
wings shine in the sunlight as if covered with 
jewels ; their heads are crowned with wreaths 
of young, bright flowers. 

Spring herself is very beautiful in a gown 
of fresh young cherry blossoms, with green 
leaves tucked in among the flowers, and a 
big and gorgeous butterfly perched on her 
shoulder. She greets Mother Nature lovingly, 
and the good Mother is very tender with this 

V 

her youngest child. 

Now the procession is ready to start. On a 
chariot of leaves and flowers rests the big 
35 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


crown of early roses made especially for the 
occasion, and a dozen robins, harnessed to the 
car by long vines, are ready to convey the 
crown to the bower which has been built for 



the coronation ceremony. A tiny herald, in 
brilliant green, climbs up into a great Jack- 
in-the-Pulpit, and announces that the line of 
procession will now move. So with singing 
36 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

and dancing the happy band makes its way 
through the woods to an open space, where a 
great dogwood-tree in full bloom throws its 
heavy branches, gleaming with white blos- 
soms, low over a dead tree stump, which the 
fairies have draped with fresh flowers. On 
this low throne Spring seats herself, and two 
small pages take the crown from its coach 
and place it on Spring’s fair head. Then 
Mother Nature gives Spring a beautiful wand, 
at the tip of which is a great flower. In Fairy- 
land they say that at night this flower be- 
comes a star, and shines brilliantly wherever 
Spring may be. At any rate, the wand is the 
sign that Spring is now Queen in the world, 
and that for a few months whatever she 
wishes shall be done. Now the fairies will 
have a gay time, for Spring loves to dance 
and to sing and to have dancing and singing 
37 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

around her. She sends her faithful robin 
courtiers to the Southland and has them bid 
all the birds to her kingdom. She lays her 
fair lips on the tiny nests where the butter- 
flies are all sleeping, and gives them dreams 
that add to their beauty when presently they 
come out of their tiny houses and begin their 
work in the world. 

And wherever Spring goes she is followed 
by a big beautiful bluebird, who stands for 
happiness, and whose home is said to be in 
the deep blue sky itself. 

It is, however, a tired little Spring who 
rests on her moss bed in the tree valley when 
at last night comes. Mother Nature has gone 
back to her cave, and the Sun, with a last 
kind smile, has departed beyond the hills. 
The nymphs take down the yellow hair of the 
new queen and brush it with loving hands. 

38 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


It has been a great day/^ the Oak-Tree 
Nymph says, with a happy sigh. 

And Queen Spring murmurs dreamily, “ A 
beautiful day. What a wonderful world it is, 
after all.^^ 

“ Listen, says the Elm-Tree Nymph. “The 
fairies are singing. They are calling to the 
moon to open her window. It is their sere- 
nade.” 

And sure enough, the fairies, enjoying to 
the full their holiday, have sung the Lady 
Moon awake, arid are inviting her to show 
her fair face at the window of her home in 
the night sky. 

“ Congratulations, little Spring,” the Lady 
Moon cries gayly. 

“ Congratulations,” the stars chorus. And 
Spring smiles happily up at the sky. But 
the fairies go on dancing. They dance till 
39 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


the dawn raises the shades in the night house, 
and Mother Nature sends word that the 
world will rest for a day. But the little fairy 
housekeepers have surely earned a vacation, 
if only a short one, for without them the 
world would never have been so beautifully 
ready for the coronation of Spring. 



40 



/"^UEEN SPRING had moved from the 
heart of the woods to the midst of a 
fine, old apple orchard. Here the trees were 
in full bloom, for Mother Nature had been 
having the fairy housekeepers work on the 
tender buds until they had turned them one 
and all into beautiful blossoms, with soft, 
silky petals, and hearts into which the kind 
old Sun had dropped gold-dust. 

41 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


It was May in the world, and as Spring sat 
there, she heard the birds singing all around, 
while in a field not far distant the cattle were 
lowing. The day was warm but mild, for the 
gentle South Wind had come up from the 
wind cave with a message for the Queen. 
Mother Nature sent word that she must have 
all the housekeeper fairies away from the 
orchard, because they were needed out in the 
fields, where a million daisies and almost as 
many buttercups must be made. 

Even as the South Wind sighed his mes- 
sage into Queen Springes ear, there came fly- 
ing across the sky a beautiful big bird. It 
came from the Southland, and it brought in 
its beak a folded palm-leaf, on which was a 
message for Spring. 

The bird lighted on the ground beside the 
Queen, and the little lady took the message 
42 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

and read it. Then her fair face flushed like 
a new rose-leaf, and she called for the Oak- 
Tree Nymph to come out to her. When the 
nymph arrived Queen Spring told her the 
news. 

King Summer sends his greetings. He is 
travelling up toward my kingdom as fast as 
his cloud-fleet will bring him. He says,’^ 
and here she smiled a little, “ that he has 
heard of the beautiful Spring, and that he 
comes with fruit and flowers to lay at the feet 
of this fair Queen. I wonder,” she sighed, 
“ if he is very handsome. ” 

Mother Nature ought to know,” answered 
the practical Oak-Tree Nymph. For my- 
self, I wish that he had waited a little longer. 
There are so many roses to be made, and such 
a host of apples and cherries to be gotten 
ready, that I do not see how the little fairies 
43 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


can possibly be done in time for the holiday 
they will have if King Summer comes here 
to stay/^ 

“ Well/' said the Spring, I asked Mother 
Nature not so long ago and she told me that 
we would have to get ready for Summer 
whenever he sent word that he would come. 
So I've decided to have a May party. I'll 
write him at once and send the message, and 
then I'll ask Mother Nature to let us have 
the big glade down by the waterfall to have 
the party in." 

“ The one they call the Bridal Falls ? " the 
nymph asked mischievously. And Queen 
Spring blushed. 

All of which means that I must tell you a 
secret. But you mustn't tell any one that 
I've told it. 

You see. King Summer comes to marry 
44 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


Queen Spring, and now we shall have a ro- 
mance that will set up a great stir in Fairy- 
land. For there will be a wedding, and if it 
takes great preparation for a coronation, what 
preparation must it take for a wedding ! 

Spring sent her message to the Summer 
King, and then she danced over the hills and 
down through the valley till she came to 
Mother Nature’s cave. That dear lady kissed 
her very fondly, said how sweet she looked 
in her new dress of wild roses and lilac blos- 
soms and leaves, and wanted to know how 
everything went in the apple-orchard. 

Then Spring told about the Summer, and 
Mother Nature became very much interested. 
Of course there must be a big party. The 
fairies must hurry with the daisies and but- 
tercups and make all the cherries as quickly 
as could be. And the floor of the glade 
45 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


must be piled up with May apples, and the 
banks of the stream be brushed up with fresh 
moss, and the great old trees that hang their 
long branches over the waterfall must have 
their leaves trimmed, for the glade would be 
just the place for a big dance, and the fairies 
could fish in the stream for the Summer 
King’s breakfast. 

Then Mother Nature set her telephone 
working. Soon the foreman of the daisy 
field band, and the leader of the buttercup 
makers, and the elf commanding the dusting 
crew, and the little fairy who knew all about 
boat making and fishing, stood before the 
good Mother there in her cave. 

One by one they were told what to do. 

The daisy makers must go to the fields 
around the glade and cover the ground thick 
with daisies. There must be white daisies 
46 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


with yellow hearts, and gold daisies with 
great black centers — “ you must make a daisy 
carpet for King Summer’s feet, and you must 
make enough extra daisies to give to the gar- 
land-makers for wreaths for every fairy who 
comes to the party.” 

The buttercup-maker was told to take his 
fairies away from the fields where they were 
working and use up what was left of the 
materials for the buttercups in providing for 
the yellow centers of the daisies to be made. 

The dusters were to go to the glade and 
spread fresh moss and trim the undergrowth, 
while the boat-maker was to get ready im- 
mediately a thousand small boats for fioating 
on the stream — you may have to rob the 
pond-lilies in the lake by the great house of 
some of their petals for boats,” Mother Na- 
ture finished. 


47 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


And so it was that when the great ship 
from the South, carried high on the wings 
of a host of bright birds, came sailing gently 
down upon the daisy field. Queen Spring, 
in a gown of the palest of pink rose-petals, 
and surrounded by a great band of fairies of 
all kinds — flower fairies and leaf fairies and 
wind fairies and wood gnomes — was waiting 
to receive the beautiful young man who 
stepped out of the cloud-ship and bent over 
the little hand of the Queen to place his lips 
upon it. And the old Sun, high up in the 
sky, and almost ready to go away for the 
night, laughed loud and long as he looked 
down upon them, and sent down a shower 
of warm gold to flow over them like a 
blessing. 

Yes, it was a beautiful party. Under a 
sunset of rose and purple and gold they sat 
48 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

around the big rocks in the glade. Queen 
Spring and King Summer, with the wood- 
nymphs and the birds and a band of amusing 
squirrels, sat on a great boulder, and with 
the music of the waterfall in their ears, ate 
the first cherries that the fruit fairies had 
made, and the fresh fish that the fishing 
fairies had caught from a big lake where the 
water-lilies make islands from which they 
could cast their lines. By and by the stars 
came out and set their candles burning 
where the leaves left space. And all the 
little boats that the boat-fairies had made 
in such a hurry were manned each by a 
firefly, and they sailed up and down the 
broad stream with their lights twinkling, 
while the fairies sang and danced and ca- 
pered, for the elves were frisky in the star- 
light, and they braved the waterfalls until 
49 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 



The Little Boats that the Fairies Had Made. 


the flashing, sparkling waters were alive with 
brilliant green. 

Yes, Summer danced with Spring and the 
stars gossipped. “ There will be a wedding,’^ 
the Moon whispered to the Wind. But the 
South Wind was angry, mild as he generally 
was, for in his heart he loved the little Spring 
and did not wish her to marry Summer. So 
he sulked and fretted, and at last, in a tem- 
per, went and hunted up the bold East Wind, 
50 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


his brother, and suggested that the North and 
East Winds make a little thunder-storm to 
end the party. That was very mean of the 
South Wind, but his heart was sore. 

So it came about that the fairies in the star- 
shine glade heard a rumble of thunder, and 
then a great flash of lightning tore across the 
sky just above them. After that the rain 
came down upon them, and they found them- 
selves in the midst of a very bad storm. For- 
tunately the nymphs had keys to the trunks 
of the oak-trees, and so Summer and Spring 
both found shelter. But the little fairies had 
to hide under the mosses and roll themselves 
up in the leaves, and the fireflies left their 
boats of water-lily petals to wither away, 
while they found their beds among the 
bushes. 

In the morning, the South Wind was 
51 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


ashamed of himself and blew diligently to 
dry off the leaves and the flowers. He begged 
the Sun to shine his warmest to help him. 
And the old Sun laughed again to see these 
foolish ones, and shone with a greater than 
usual warmth, so that the people in the world 
talked of how hot the day was, but they did not 
know about the May Party which Queen Spring 
gave to the King of the Summer, and because 
of which the South Wind was not pleased. 



52 


I 





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* 


A 



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f Ik 1 


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i' 



** T T AVE you heard the news ? ” 

One Rose Fairy asked the question 
of another Rose Fairy as they worked side by 
side on the fresh blooms of a great rose-bush. 
“ No/^ answered the other. What is it ? 
55 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


Why, Queen Spring is going to marry 
King Summer, and we shall all be invited to 
the wedding ! 

“Hurrah I said the second Fairy, who was 
a boy fairy. “ There’s sure to be plenty of 
good things to eat ! ” 

The Rose Fairies were busy in a big rose- 
garden, which lay all around a great, white 
house. The house belonged to a Southern 
gentleman, and weeks ago he had written to 
his faithful old gardener, John, to get the 
garden fixed up, for he was coming home 
again, and he was bringing a beautiful new 
wife. 

Now old John was one of Mother Nature’s 
favorite gardeners. When he wanted any- 
thing done he just talked to the good Mother 
and told her all about it. And then she 
would send as many of her housekeeper 
56 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


fairies as she could spare and they would 
give old John as much help as possible on his 
gardens. 

Therefore, when the gray-haired gardener 
received the news of his master’s return, he 
at once consulted Dame Nature. Then he 
worked as hard as ever he could getting the 
ground ready, so that when some Rose Fairies 
should be sent they could at once help him to 
put the garden into full bloom. In this way 
his master’s bride would be greeted by the 
wonderful fragrance and the soft colors of 
hundreds of June roses, when she came to her 
new home. 

You must understand that Mother Nature 
never does things to help lazy people. If old 
John had not worked very hard himself. 
Dame Nature would not have bothered to 
make his rose garden beautiful. But he was 
57 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

an industrious old fellow, and also he was 
very honest and sweet-natured. He loved his 
master, he loved Mother Nature, and he loved 
the flower fairies and the flowers they made. 
So John was able to have splendid gardens — 
all over the country he was known for the 
wonderful roses that he grew. But he could 
not have grown those roses if the fairies had 
not come to put all the fine touches on the 
petals, and to blow open the big buds with 
their tiny bellows, and if the little garden 
fairies had not been sent regularly to drive 
away the worms, and to sprinkle the rose- 
trees with fine mist that the little bugs hated, 
and which kept them from eating the leaves 
away. 

Now the big garden had begun to look 
very beautiful. There were white roses and 
pink roses, and sweet-smelling red roses, and 
58 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

some roses that were pale golden in color. 
There were great clusters of climbing roses ; 
there were buds and full, perfect blooms, and 
there were roses just half-open, waiting for 
the fresh breezes and the morning sunbeams 
to complete the work that the fairies had 
done. And old John, with a little company 
of housekeeper fairies dancing around him, 
had taken large bunches of phlox and sweet 
peas and fresh peonies into the house, where 
he grouped them and gathered them for the 
little vases, the low dishes and the tall 
holders, until the whole house was filled with 
a delicate fiower perfume, and wherever one 
looked there were bright fiowers smiling and 
tall flowers gracefully nodding their heads as 
in welcome. 

Meanwhile, there were preparations being 
made in Fairy-land for a gorgeous wedding. 
59 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


All through the land the bird messengers of 
Summer and the elf messengers of Mother 
Nature had spread the good news. Queen 
Spring was to marry King Summer, and 
there would be a holiday for the fairies. 
The world must be all flowers and sunshine 
and blue skies and starry, moonlighted nights 
when the Summer King took the beautiful 
Spring to be his bride, and the animals in 
the woods, the birds all through the forests, 
the winds and the little breezes, and the elves 
and the gnomes — all were to come to the 
wedding. 

The old Sun rolled merrily over the roof of 
Mother Nature’s cave and sang out a greet- 
ing. The good Mother came to the door, a 
smile on her lips. 

“ Where’s the great Eagle? ” she asked the 
Sun. 


60 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


Up on the high mountain under the 
Moon/' he replied. 

“ I want him to come and perform the 
marriage ceremony for Spring and Summer/' 
said Dame Nature. 



‘‘ The Sun Discovered a Great Bird.” 


Leave that to me," answered the Sun. 
** I'll see him very shortly, and I'll tell him 
to come." 


61 


THE fairy housekeepers 

Then the Sun rode away, and rode on and 
on until his bright eye discovered a great 
bird, standing with wings outspread at the 
top of a high mountain. 

There’s the old Eagle,” Master Sun said to 
himself, and called out to the great fellow. 

The Eagle looked up and nodded. He was 
still sleepy, and he did not want to go to a 
wedding. But when Dame Nature spoke, all 
the birds, even their king, the Eagle, must 
obey, and so he promised the Sun that he 
would be down at Mother Nature’s cave at 
dawn the next day. 

Well, it was a very happy wedding. 
Father Sun could not be there, because he 
was making the dawn in the far East, and he 
sent the rainbow fairies to paint the sky a 
deep rose, and to throw out banners of violet, 
62 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


while he himself poured on the gold-dust, as 
he gradually rode up the sky, to be on hand to 
give his blessing when the wedding was over. 

Mother Nature gave the bride away. 
Spring was very dainty and charming in 
a gown all woven of lilies-of-the-valley. 
Thousands of little fairy sewers and wreath- 
makers had worked for many hours on this 
gown, and it shimmered in the first sun-rays 
as if the dewdrops that the dawn fairies had 
sprinkled over it were so many diamonds. 
It had a long train of fresh, shining, green 
leaves, and on Spring’s golden hair rested a 
little crown of white rosebuds, while her 
bouquet was of pale yellow roses set in a 
border of lily leaves. King Summer wore a 
close-fitting suit of bright green, and he was 
very handsome, with his dull bronze hair, 
and his tall, slender figure. 

63 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

Mother Nature had selected the hill back 
of the Wind Cave for the place where the 
wedding should be. All around it grew tall, 
old trees, and on the brow of the hill the 
fairies had spread a thick grass carpet. 
Every fairy brought a flower, so that when 
they were all gathered around it looked like 
a great posy of tiny sweet faces and flower 
blooms. The mischievous elves had captured 
some squirrels, which they used as horses, 
and a number of gnomes rode to the wedding 
on the backs of the lazy old bullfrogs who 
didnT want to come to the wedding at all, 
but had to when they were tied up with 
honeysuckle vines by a persistent but good- 
natured little brown gnome. 

A large number of birds gathered in the 
trees around and sang a marriage song, and 
then the old Eagle, his eyes very bright, and 
64 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


his wings carefully folded back against his 
sides, read the marriage lines, in a deep voice 
that sent the echoes floating out over the 
hills. And just as he flnished the Sun sent a 
great glow to settle around the wedding-party, 
and King Summer kissed the Spring amid a 
shower of gold spray. 

The broad cloud-ship of the Summer, with 
its team of birds, was all ready for the bride 
and bridegroom. Mother Nature kissed the 
Spring, the wood-aymphs wiped their pretty 
eyes with their little leaf handkerchiefs, 
and then the big ship rolled away toward 
the Sun, so that the bride might receive his 
blessing. 

Then Mother Nature addressed the fairies : 

There is a banquet spread over before the 
Wind Cave,'' she said. '‘ To-day will be a 
holiday. You may eat and drink and have 
65 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

a good time. To-morrow we will start work. 
I want every fairy to get out his and her 
summer farm clothes and start out to the 
fields. The orchard fairies will begin with 
the fruit-trees. The apples and the peaches 
and the pears must be worked with until 
there is a big crop of each. The peach 
crop will, of course, need the first attention. 
The peaches this year must be many and 
fine. 

The garden fairies will go into the vege- 
table patches. Wherever seed has been sown 
there will be plants to help up to the ground, 
and in many cases there will be vegetables to 
form and to finish. The tomatoes must be 
big and luscious. There must be full pea- 
pods and fine, thick ears of corn. You can 
have the Rain when you need him to send 
showers ; you have only to ask the Sun and 
66 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


he will shine where you want him. But one 
and all you mdst be busy. 

‘‘The field fairies must be prepared to live 
in the fields from now until the crops have 
been harvested. The grain fairies will need 
to be working often both at night and in the 
day. And to every field you must take some 
discipline elves, to prick those lazy farm- 
hands, and also to keep the fairies themselves 
at work and in order.^' 

So that was how it came about that while 
the Summer and the Spring drifted together 
over the world, happy in each other's love and 
company, the housekeeper fairies had a holi- 
day and a feast, after which they took a good 
sleep and in the morning put on their brown 
leaf-suits and began their hard summer's 
work. But they were all happy ; they 
loved their work as much as they enjoyed 
67 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


their play, and they loved good Mother 
Nature and the charming Spring and the 
generous Summer, and they loved the world 
and all the people and the animals in it. 



68 



[AKING JULY 
FIELDS GARDENS 

^AKE up, Fairykins ! 

Wake up ! Wake up I ” 

Through the woods and in the meadows, 
on the river banks and in the gardens, 
sleepy little fairies tumbled out of beds of 
leaves and moss and flowers, and put on their 
workaday garments of dusty grass, shoul- 
ered their big shears and paint-boxes and 
69 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

brushes, and tramped off to the fields and 
the orchards. 

Soon the farmers were saying, Great crops 
we’ll be having this year. The wheat’s be- 
ginning to head and the corn promises to be 
early.” The farmers could not see the million 
little fingers making wheat grains, nor the busy 
shears that shaped the corn to handsome ears, 
while other little workers packed the big 
green shells with moist and creamy grains. 

Nor did the farmers see the thousand little 
figures perched upon the tree-boughs, mold- 
ing apples, painting in their rosy cheeks, and 
brushing up the tinted nap on quickly ripen- 
ing peaches. 

But the big honey-bee, who looked long- 
ingly at the peaches, was given a real scolding 
by a brown elf who was coloring fruit on the 
plum-tree. 


70 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


Aren’t there flowers enough from which 
to get your honey?” demanded the little 
elf. 

‘‘What difference?” inquired the big bee, 
somewhat disdainfully. “ Who are you to 
say whether or no I shall suck the sweet 
juices from these peaches?” 

“ I am one of the elves who were sent to 
make the peach-trees heavy with a crop of 
flne fruit, and I have a grass spear that will 
hurt if I use it to prick that big yellow 
stomach of yours.” 

“ Ha ! ha ! ” sneered the bee. “ A grass 
spear I Who’s afraid ? ” and settled com- 
fortably down on a beautiful, large, newly- 
tinted peach. 

This was too much for the elf He leaned 
over and sent the point of his grass-blade into 
the bee’s stomach. 


71 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 



Ouch ! cried the greedy bee. That 
hurts ! 

“ Then let my peaches alone I answered 
the elf. 


72 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

I’ll sting you,” snapped the bee. 

But the little elf disappeared under a leaf, 
and though the bee hunted and hunted, he 
could not be found. But whenever the bee 
went near a peach and hovered there, the 
long grass blade seemed to come out of space 
to give its prick. So majestically the bee 
sailed away, crying out : 

‘‘Never mind, you naughty elf; I’ll get 
even with you yet I ” \ 

A beautiful yellow and black butterfly 
canre into the orchard. He sailed gracefully 
around over the grass and looked longingly 
at the peaches. 

“ Let’s make the butterfly carry us away to 
the big garden yonder,” suggested a tiny peach- 
blossom fairy, whose worl^ was all over long ago. 

“ All right,” a bright little elf replied. 
“ Have you any vine with you ? ” 

73 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


“ Here's a wisteria tendril," the fairy said 
eagerly. 

With that they began to chase the butter- 

fly- 

Back and forth they went, up and down 
through the orchard. It was a long time 
before they could catch the butterfly. But at 
last the poor thing was tired, so it lighted 
on the moss under a peach-tree and asked 
wearily : 

What do you want ? " 

A ride," said the elf. We want to sail 
over the garden." 

But I can't carry you both," said the 
butterfly. 

At that the fairies looked at each other, 
and laughed. 

How stupid ! " they both cried at once. 

** I tell you what we can do," said the Elf 
74 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


to the Fairy. “ You go to the garden, and 
wait there while the butterfly comes back 
for me.^^ 

‘‘ Come along,” sighed the butterfly. 
“ Maybe I’ll meet a friend who will carry 
you.” 

They did meet, not one friend but many, 
and soon a whole band of orchard fairies 
were riding on butterfly wings to the garden, 
where they set to work at once to curl the 
petals of the marigolds and dye the many- 
colored leaves of the zinnias. 

And then Mother Nature sent a thousand 
new fairies, each bearing a tiny tube of flower 
honey and a little bottle of pure flower per- 
fume. These things came from the good 
Mother’s own storehouse, for which she 
makes each year the most marvellously 
sweet-tasting and sweet-smelling dews. 

75 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


But the messenger from Mother Nature 
told the fairies to wait till night to open up 
the bottles and the tubes. For only a few 
people know how the flowers get their per- 
fume and their honey, and the secret must 
be kept. So the fairies stored their bundles 
down around the plant-roots and curled 
themselves up in the grape-vines that sur- 
rounded the garden to wait for the night. 

Suddenly one little fairy was heard to cry 
out, in a panic-stricken voice, “ We forgot to 
tell the Moon that we should need her 
to-night! .And I heard the North Wind say 
that he had promised to send a cloud curtain 
for the Lady Moon’s house to-night, because 
she was not feeling well and wanted to go to 
bed 1 ” 

There are two little breezes playing hide- 
and-seek around this arbor now,” spoke up a 
•76 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


common-sense fairy. “ Let them take word 
to the Wind not to send the cloud. 

So the first little fairy chased the breezes 
till he caught one and gave the message. 
And the breezes, not at all pleased to have to 
stop their play, grumbled and fussed, but 
finally started away. 

But the forgetfulness of the fairies was 
the cause of a good deal of disturbance. 
For the Rain, hearing that the Wind 
was gathering together a cloud-curtain, had 
decided that this would be a fine night for a 
shower. 

The gardens need watering,” he said, and 
made his plans accordingly. 

However, when the little breezes found 
their father, they told him what the fairies 
said. He was very angry. Somebody was 
careless in the performance of his duty,” 
77 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


the Wind raged. People who forget to give 
important messages should be punished.^’ 
With a great lot of bluster he sent the 
clouds scattering, and then, to his astonish- 
ment, he heard the Rain complain : 

‘‘ Hello, there, what are you doing ? de- 
manded the Rain. I was just getting ready 
to make up some showers ! ” 

“ You can’t do it,” shouted the Wind. 
The fairies are making gardens and must 
have the light from the Moon’s house. It’s 
too bad ; I’ll have to go and tell her that 
some one forgot to bring her the message.” 

Some fairy should be punished for this,” 
declared the Rain. Now my plan’s all 
upset ! ” 

The Lady Moon, in her house-boat high in 
the sky, had just settled down to a quiet rest 
when she heard the Wind whispering : 

78 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


Lady Moon, Lady Moon.’^ 

“Yes?’' she asked. 

“ You’ll have to light up to-night, after 
all,” said the Wind. “ It’s too bad, but the 
fairies are making gardens to-night and they 
need the Moonlight.” 

“ Oh, bother,” sighed the Moon. “ I was 
just settling down to a nice sleep. Whose 
fault was it that I was not notified ? ” she 
asked. 

“ That I don’t know,” the Wind replied. 
“ Whoever it was ought to be punished.” 

Well, the end of it all was that the Moon 
lighted up her house and set it sailing gently 
over the sky, and the Wind went into his 
cave to bed and the Rain stayed under his 
mountain. 

Out in the gardens the fairies opened the 
tiny bottles and bark tubes, and poured 
79 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


honey-dew into the hearts of the flowers, 
and sprinkled the bright petals with deli- 
cious perfumes. But suddenly a band of 
fireflies came sailing over the garden, and 
they carried among them a broad leaf, on 
which sat the Queen of the Flower Fairies. 

All the little workers stopped and bowed 
to their Queen. 

Who forgot to give the message to the 
Lady Moon? ” the Fairy Queen asked. 

And a tiny green leaf elf stepped forward 
and, with head hanging, said very softly : 

It was I.’^ 

“ You are banished to the Winter Cave,'^ 
said the Queen Fairy. Go quickly and 
work with the ice elves. While your com- 
panions sleep you shall work, until you learn 
not to forget.^' 

Then the Queen's leaf chariot floated 

80 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


away, the fireflies shining like stars all 
around it. 

And the poor little elf said good-bye to his 
friends and walked off all alone. It was far 
away to the ice elves^ home, and he knew 
that it would be a hard journey. So he 
begged a grasshopper to take him a part of 
the way, and the grasshopper let him get up 
on his back and away they went. 

People who forget to do important things 
soon lose their places in the world. 

When the Sun came up in the morning he 
smiled warmly over the gardens. The little 
fairies were fast asleep after their night 
labors, but the flowers were bright and fresh 
and beautiful. 

The children came out in the early morn- 
ing also and gathered fresh nosegays for the 
breakfast-table. 


81 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


“ Don^t the flowers smell delicious ? is 
what they ask each other. 

But nobody realizes that the reason for that 
wonderful fragrance lies in the labors of the 
little housekeeper fairies who worked so hard 
while the world lay peacefully sleeping. 



82 



THE FAIRIES 

BY THE SEA 


I j^ VERY summer Mother Nature sends a 
band of little fairy housekeepers down 
to the seashore. She does this because she 
knows that soon the boys and girls will be 
through with school, and then a great many of 
them will go for vacations by the sea. So the 
beaches must be smooth, and the little shell- 
folks must be ready, and the old Ocean must 
have his instructions for the summer months. 
83 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

First the four big Winds each make a trip 
to the Ocean. They howl and they roar at 
him, for the Ocean is many thousands of 
years old and is very deaf. Therefore the 
Winds must make a big noise in order that 
the Ocean may understand that now has 
come the time for a good, thoroughgoing 
storm, because after this storm he must re- 
main gentle and kind and full of deep music 
for a number of weeks. 

After the Winds comes the jolly old Sun. 
He laughs his big, hearty laugh to attract the 
Ocean’s attention. Then he tells the Ocean 
that he is going to shine very strongly over 
the water, to keep the old Ocean warm and 
comfortable in the days when the children 
will want to come and bathe in the water 
that rolls over the beach. The Ocean must 
make all his little waves obey exactly the 
84 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


directions that are given ; they must not wash 
any of the children out to the deep sea, for 
that is the way little folks drown. 

In a short while the sand-fairies begin to 
appear. These fairies have been sleeping back 
under the brush that lines the long beach. 
Mother Nature^s band of housekeeper fairies 
wake up the sleepy sand-fairies and tell them 
to go out and pile up the white sand in big 
hills, for Master Sun is there to warm the 
sand and make it delightful to roll in. 

Then the housekeepers wade out into the 
shallow water and send a call to the seaweed- 
fairies. The seaweed-fairies hear them and 
come floating in, bringing big bunches of soft 
weeds with them. 

** Where are the sand - crabs and the 
shrimps? ” the housekeepers want to know. 

“ We’re here,” comes the answer, and thou- 
85 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

sands and thousands of little sand-crabs begin 
to play in the sand, while in the small gulleys 
the shrimps chase each other in high glee. 

Summer is here, and the children are 
coming ! sing the fairies, but the sand-crabs 
are not so well-pleased with the news. 

They are naughty children,” says one. 
** They catch us and crush us, just for the fun 
of seeing us squash.” 

“ And they tear our bodies away from the 
shells, so as to keep our shells and carry them 
away in those funny buckets they play with,” 
spoke up one of the little periwinkles. 

** Yes, but we get even,” declared one of the 
larger sand-crabs. “ When the little ones go 
in bathing, we nip their toes, and maybe they 
are not frightened ! ” 

You mustn’t hurt the children,” said one 
little fairy. They do not know any better. 

86 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


It is the fault of the older people, who do not 
teach them to love our good Mother Nature 
and to be kind to dumb creatures.” 

“ Well, we don’t hurt them,” protested the 
crab. We just scare them a little.” 

Soon all the fairies are at work with tiny 
shovels and rakes. All over the beach the 
army goes, scooping up the sand and smooth- 
ing it down again, drawing it through the 
fine little rakes till it glistens in the sunlight. 
Then the old Ocean rolls up and over it, and 
when he goes back to the deeper places the 
sand lies smooth and clean, and ready for the 
children. 

When the boys and girls come with their 
buckets and their shovels and their sand 
toys they do not see any of the sand-fairies. 

But in the night, when the deep-sea music 
comes echoing through the clear air, some 
87 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


little boy or girl tucked snugly away in bed 
will hear a different kind of music. It is the 
sand-fairies singing as they dance on the 
beach under the moonlight, doing their work 
while they dance, keeping the beach sweet 
and clear, and building up great sand castles 
that shine under the stars. 

But in the morning there are only a few 
conch-shells to tell the story of the joyous 
race that the fairies ran through the waves, 
for the tiny people have gone under the rocks 
and among the bushes, to be safe in their 
bunks until the night shall come. Should 
we search for them we would not find them, 
for a sand-fairy can hide under a leaf, and 
when we turn the leaf the fairy will be buried 
in the sand at our feet. 

Sometimes, however, a boy or a girl goes 
fishing. The line is cast, and there comes a 
88 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


nibble, but when the line is brought up there 
is no fish. A little sea-fairy was playing in 
the water near the line, and saw it. She also 
saw a little fish nibble at the bait and she 
whispered : 

Don't eat that I You'll be caught I " 

And the fish quickly jerks away from the 
bait, and thanks the little fairy. 

“ Come take a ride on my back," suggests 
the fish gallantly. And the little fairy climbs 
up on the back of the fish and sails away 
through the water. 

Boys and girls can learn many things at 
the seashore, and can have a lot of fun. But 
they owe much of it to the industrious chil- 
dren of old Dame Nature, who is ever on the 
watch to make the world beautiful and fine 
for the children and the grown people as well. 

We lie in the sand and wonder at the music 
89 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

of the sea ; we roll beneath the warm sun and 
talk of the delights of the seashore. But we 
need very strong sight to find a stray fairy, 
though a small boy may think that he has 
surprised the hiding-place of an impish elf 
when he picks up a starfish stranded at ebb- 
tide. 



90 



WHEN 
THEHAKVEST 
COMES 


OUDDENLY there spread through Fairy- 
land the sad news of the death of Queen 
Spring. Dear little Spring, so beautiful but 
so frail — the Summer King's love could not 
save her. She gradually faded away, until 
there was just a delicate form, very white, 
very dainty, like some fair flower out of 
which all the life has gone. 

King Summer carried her in his cloud-ship 
91 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


to a small cave under the cliffs by the sea. 
There the fairies built a great couch of 
fragrant leaves and on this Queen Spring was 
laid. Then Mother Nature selected twelve 
little housekeeper fairies to stay with the dead 
Spring. They were to keep the cave sweet 
and clean, and to see that nothing entered to 
disturb the quiet of the place. You see, 
Queen Spring is dead only for a while ; after 
a few months she will wake up to life again, 
and once more will be crowned Queen of a 
new, fresh, blooming world. 

You remember the beautiful Princess in the 
fairy-tale, whose name was Snow-White, and 
how a wicked witch gave her a poisoned apple 
to eat. Snow-White seemed dead to her little 
friends, the seven dwarfs ; so they carried her 
to the top of a mountain and put her in a 
glass case. One day a Prince rode by, and 
92 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


kissed the beautiful girl as she lay there. In 
doing so he disturbed the glass case, and 
Snow-White was given a jolt that made the 
poisoned apple come out of her mouth. With 
that she became alive once more, and later, 
she married the Prince. 

There is no wicked witch to enchant Queen 
Spring, but she cannot thrive in the very hot 
weather. Therefore she wilts away, and not 
until the Frost Prince has laid his hands upon 
her, will she come back to life. But the South 
Wind, faithful to his love, sighs around the 
door of the cave, always believing that his af- 
fectionate whisperings will reach the heart of 
the sleeping Queen. 

King Summer, of course, felt very lonely 
without his wife. He came back to the fields 
where the fairies were working, and he seemed 
much older and much graver. He told the 
93 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

fairies that he did not think that he could be 
king much longer ; he asked the Sun to help 
the little people hurry the grain along so that 
it might be gathered in. 

Very soon the farmers began to talk of the 
harvesting. The wheat and the rye must be 
cut, the hay must be gathered and stacked, 
and the corn, which was now drying under 
the Sun’s strong beams, must be chopped down 
and set up in great piles in the fields. 

Mother Nature went wandering around day 
by day, noting the progress that had been 
made with the crops. She was pleased with 
the big melons, the rich coloring and size of 
the pumpkins, the fine, beautiful sprays of the 
wheat heads. She sent out the goldenrod 
fairies in full force, and told them to make the 
fields thick with tall, yellow, fiufFy stalks. 

And then one day the harvest began. What 

94 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

a working and a chattering there was ! But 
the farmers and their helpers only heard the 
locusts singing and the bees humming. They 
did not know that the buzzing sounds of Sum- 
mer were the voices of a million wee creatures, 
lending help unseen as they cut the grain, and 
piled the pumpkins high, and levelled off the 
meadows, until they were nothing but stubble 
set all over with great, beautiful mounds of 
yellow corn husks. 

At night, however, when the world slept, 
the fairies had their harvest festivals. Now 
the Sun made gallant love to the Moon and 
persuaded her to set her house aglow with 
golden lights, so that in the bright illumina- 
tion the fairies might play and dance. Pres- 
ently green elves were sailing through the 
darkness astride the backs of great, green- 
golden, brown, and cloud-white moths, and 
95 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


the field fairies had dropped their brown 
aprons to put on skirts of poppy petals and 
wraps of larkspur. 

Tiny gnomes, who roam the woods to see 
that the brown shells of the nuts are being 
filled with good, rich meat for boys and girls 
to eat a little later, made the fairies one and 
all hold their sides with laughter. For each 
little gnome had climbed into a snapdragon, 
and the snapdragons danced and ran and 
jumped, and played all sorts of funny pranks. 

Lady Moon, sitting at her window, laughed 
a gay, little laugh, and dropped a few magical 
beams here and there among the fairies. Soon 
a green elf rode up on a moth and alighting, 
bowed to a bright little fairy in a poppy-petal 
dress. 

Will you dance with me? he asked her. 

‘‘ Why, yes/^ she answered shyly. 

96 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

But when they had danced for a little the 
green elf coaxed the poppy fairy to a bit of 
moss under a shapely mushroom. 

'' I will be your beau/’ he whispered. 

“ Yes ? ” she questioned. 

“ You will be my sweetheart, then,” he 
said. 

So the elf and the fairy plighted their troth 
and the bright Moon Lady smiled on con- 
tentedly. 

There will be weddings in Fairy-land,” 
she said, and seemed very well pleased with 
herself. 

But the Moon Lady grew tired presently. 
One by one she put out the lights in her 
windows. There came a night that was very 
dark, for the stars were holding a council 
behind great walls of clouds. The fairies 
had to beg the fireflies to guide them to 
97 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


their camps under the bushes, and that 
night everybody had a beautiful sleep. 

The next morning the berry fairies went 
very early to the places where they had put 
the largest and sweetest berries, and that day 
they breakfasted in Fairy-land off tendnr ber- 
ries served in grape-leaf cups. 

‘‘We’ve had a fine Summer Kingdom,” re- 
marked a mischievous-looking elf. 

“ I wonder what we’ll be expected to do 
next?” inquired a tiny but very pretty fairy. 

“ Well, last year we went down to Mother 
Nature’s cave and helped with the stores that 
she was laying away for the winter. You 
know the ice elves and the snow fairies have 
to have things to eat, and Mother Nature and 
Father Winter always take them into their 
homes to feed them.” 

“ I should think ice elves and snow fairies 

98 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


would melt away if they went near Mother 
Nature’s big fire,” said another fairy, a trifle 
disdainfully. 



I don’t suppose they go near the fire,” 
the elf explained patiently. “ Mother Nature 
makes the Breeze boys serve them out before 
the door.” 


99 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


You sound as if you had been there, 
remarked the pert little fairy. 

“ I was,” confessed the elf. “ Once I diso- 
beyed an order and Mother Nature sent me 
to work with the ice elves as a punishment. 
Ugh ! it was cold 1 ” 

I know what we’ll have to do next,” 
spoke up a newly-arrived fairy. “ We’ll 
have to go to school and have the big owl 
teach us A. B. C.’s.” 

“ Oh, dear,” sighed the elf, I can’t ever 
remember all those letters. I think I’d 
rather be with the ice elves.” 

Just then a big gray goose came strutting 
through the meadow. 

There’s one of our teachers now,” ex- 
claimed one of the fairies. 

Sure enough. Mistress Gray Goose stopped 
by the little group. 


100 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

“ The new school will open in the Brown 
Woods by the Singing Brook on Monday 
next,” she announced importantly. “ Every 
elf and fairy must be present,” she said. 

And the little elf was suddenly afraid of 
the teacher. He didn’t say anything, but 
just nodded his head. Even the fairies were 
shy in the presence of Gray Goose. They too 
nodded, and said very politely ; 

“ We’ll be there.” 

But when Mistress Goose had passed on, 
one little fairy sighed regretfully : 

Oh, I wish Queen Spring would come 
again soon. Making garlands and dancing 
is much nicer than going to school.” 

Never mind,” consoled the elf. ** It 
won’t be long until Queen Spring does come 
alive again. I met a groundhog the other 
day and he told me that we should have a 
101 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


very short winter. Old Grandfather Winter 
has had a lot of rheumatism lately, and he 
told the Sun that he did not think he could 
remain away from home long this year. So 
we'll have Spring shortly, anyhow, and then 
we'll have another good time." 



102 






MDTHE ^ 
FAIRIES' SCHOOL 


ING SUMMER drifted down over the 



wind cave one morning, and stepping 
out of his cloud-ship, went in to say good-bye 
to Mother Nature. 

“ It’s time for me to be going,” he an- 
nounced a little sadly. “ I met young 
Autumn in the woods yesterday, and he 
accidentally fired off his gun at me.” 

He’s a reckless hunter,” Mother Nature 


105 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


commented. But Grandfather Winter 
thought it time for him to try out his 
strength.’^ 

Young Autumn, I want you to know, was 
the youngest son of Grandfather Winter. 
Among the fairies he was looked upon as 
the handsomest young Prince in the world. 
When he took his gun and went out into 
the woods everybody knew that the reign of 
the Summer King was over. 

While Summer talked with Mother Nature, 
young Autumn came strolling up to the door 
of the cave. 

** Hello,^^ he said. Where’s the cloud-ship 
going?” 

Southward,” replied the Summer King, 
and at once got ready to leave. 

After the big cloud-ship had sailed away. 
Autumn sat down by Mother Nature’s big fire. 

106 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

It feels good to sit here/^ he declared. 
“ Those Wind sons of yours seem determined 
to make the world chilly to-day.’^ 

“ What news do you bring ? asked Dame 
Nature. 

Well, it looks as if my dear old father, 
Winter, were anxious to get down here. 
There’s a big army of ice elves frisking 
around the North Pole, impatient to hurl 
their tiny spears against the flower fairies. 
Even the snow fairies are hunting up excuses 
to come this way. I think we’ll have to get 
busy, that’s all.” 

Did you see Mr. Owl anywhere in the 
woods ? ” asked Mother Nature. 

No, but the Hare told me that the Owl 
was writing busily away on his tree stump 
in the dell. The Gray Goose had a band of 
wood gnomes combing the mosses, and the 
107 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


old Rabbit had on his spectacles as if he 
meant business. The word has gone out 
that the school is ready and the fairies are 
hiding in the gardens in the hope that no- 
body will find them and send them to 
school.'^ 

Mother Nature laughed. 

“ They do that trick every year. I’ll soon 
find them. Meanwhile, I wish you would 
take charge of the leaf-turning and the nut- 
making. There are burrs to be opened all 
through the woods, and the leaves on the 
trees ought to be recolored just as quickly as 
possible. When Winter swoops down with 
his ice elves we must be all ready to fight 
our own little battle. But the fairies must 
learn their letters and have their drills. I 
need a lot of new messengers, some new tele- 
phone workers, and soon I shall need many 
108 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

bookkeepers. Before Winter actually comes 
we must get all the stores ready, and that 
means real, hard work. It has been a busy 
but a beautiful year ; Pm afraid, however, 
that my little people have been growing 
lazy. I want to see how many of them can 
throw a spear and how many of them can 
wrestle. We must give the ice people a good 
battle, even though they overcome us in the 
end, as, of course, they will.’^ 

Then Mother Nature called one of her fairy 
elf messengers and sent him flying to bring 
the fairies to school. 

Down in the deep dell old Master Owl 
gave three loud, long hoots. From every- 
where around appeared fairies and elves and 
small animals and wood gnomes. Mistress 
Gray Goose and old Brown Rabbit settled 
them one by one on their mossy seats under 
109 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


the trees, and the school work began. There 
were A. B. C.'s to learn and other lessons to 
recite. The smallest fairies were given sample 
flowers to make ; and some of the boy elves 
were given fruit to color. The little fairies 
who had been doing these things through 
the year taught the others who had not yet 
done any of them, for there are new little 
fairies in Fairy-land every year, and each one 
must learn his trade. 

Presently, the old Rabbit disappeared. 
When he came back, he was followed' by a 
group of elf boys each carrying a bundle of 
swords made of tree bark. After them came 
a band of gray squirrels, behind them a big 
wagon made of a part of a tree-trunk care- 
fully hollowed out and filled with whole 
nuts. 

Now what do you think the bark swords 

no 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


and the nuts were to be used for? Why, 
they were the fairies’ ammunition I There 
was going to be war in Fairy-land, as there is 
every year when the army of snow fairies and 
ice elves come to take possession of the world. 
And the flower fairies and the tree fairies and 
the little elves who have been helping Mother 
Nature to do her housekeeping, all turn sol- 
diers and fight a big fight. But in order 
that they may know the best ways of fighting, 
they have drills in the fairy school, and each 
little elf and fairy learns how to swing a 
sword and how to throw a nut straight and 
swiftly. Just as people out in the world pre- 
pare for war by drilling men to be soldiers, so 
the old Owl and his teachers drill the fairies 
to be soldiers who can do battle with the 
winter invaders. 

The old Owl hung up a big leaf on the 
111 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

trunk of a tree, and the fairies used this as a 
target. How they threw those big brown 
nuts I It was great sport, and it was surpris- 
ing to see what strength some of the little peo- 
ple had. The Sun poked his head through 
the trees and shot out a few spears of gold all 
his own at the target, and Mother Nature came 
over the hills and watched from a grassy slope 
the progress that the fairies were making. 
Young Autumn joined her after a little, and 
gave a loud Bravo whenever a tiny elf hit 
the leaf right in the center. 

Then they wrestled with each other, elves 
and gnomes, and when one little gnome sent 
another gnome crashing to the ground, a flower 
fairy would help the fallen one to pick him- 
self up, and would bind up his wounds with 
leaf handkerchiefs. Nobody was really hurt, 
but some of them did become rather rough. 

112 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


After a while Mother Nature spoke to the 
Brown Rabbit and the old Owl. 

‘‘ I think they have had enough/’ she said. 
“ The school will assemble again to-morrow 
and every day for the next two weeks. Mean- 
while the woods must be swept by the Winds 
and the Rain, and the leaves dried. I must 
have a new carpet for the cave, and new 
blankets to keep the flower fairies warm when 
the winter people send them to bed to wait 
for the Spring.” 

So the school was dismissed, but the fairies 
had had a good time playing at war. They 
were all happy and flushed, like children who 
have had a lot of good, healthful exercise, and 
they went to work with a will getting the nut 
burrs open and giving the leaves all sorts of 
beautiful colors. The people in the world 
said, ‘‘This is a wonderful Autumn. The 
113 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


trees are gorgeous in their new dresses of yel- 
low and red and brown-green.’^ Into their 
houses they took great bunches of the bright 
leaves. Often a big automobile would stop 
under the trees, and a great man would come 
and pull away the branches where a tiny fairy 
which he could not see was busily working. 
There would not be time for the fairy to es- 
cape, so he would have to get into the auto- 
mobile along with the leaves, and then what 
a glorious ride he would have I But he would 
have to stay hidden, because he did not know 
how these strange people would treat him if 
he showed himself. Presently he would 
be carried into a house, and then the leaves 
would be set in a tall jar. The fairy would 
see many things that appeared new and re- 
markable. One fairy got into a house where 
there was a little child, who sat on her moth- 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

er’s knee by the fireplace and listened to fairy 
stories. The fairy pricked up his ears. 

They’re talking about us,” he chuckled to 
himself. Then he had an idea. After the 
little girl was put to bed, and all the lights 
were out, he scrambled down from his high 
perch and ran all through the house. He 
found the room where the child was asleep, and 
he went in. He climbed up on the foot of the 
bed, and then he dropped lightly down on the 
baby’s pillow. His soft little whisper was heard 
by the child, and she woke up and saw him. 

Don’t be frightened,” the fairy said. 

I’m Billy Leaf Fairy. Next time you go 
into the woods lift up every leaf you see and 
maybe you’ll find me. If you do not find 
me, one of my brothers may be there. Tell 
him that you know me and he’ll tell you 

some wonderful secrets.” 

116 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


Then he danced away off the bed. Watch 
me/^ he said. And he took off his little cap 
to the Lady Moon, and bowed very low. 

May I borrow a moonbeam ? ” he asked. 

“ You may,’^ said the Moon, and sent a beam 
streaming in at the window. 

In the midst of the moonbeam the fairy 
danced for the baby until the little eyes be- 
gan to droop and the fairy told the Moon Lady 
to take her beam away. Then he dropped 
softly out of the window and scurried back to 
the woods. 

In the morning when the child awoke she 
told a wonderful story of her dream about the 
little brown fairy who promised to tell her a 
secret. Whenever she goes to the woods she 
turns over the leaves and looks for the fairy. 
I do not think that she has found him or one 
of his brothers yet, but perhaps, if she is pa- 
116 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


tient, he will show himself to her one day. 
However, she believes in fairies, because she 
herself has seen one. 



117 



GETTING READY 
TOR INVASION 


/^NE little squirrel said to another little 
squirrel : 

Hurry ! The fairies are coming I We 
must get in our winter supply of provisions 
before all the walnuts and shellbarks and 
hickory-nuts have been gathered in for the 
war with the ice elves/^ 

“What’s the difference?” demanded the 
other little squirrel, scornfully. “They only 
118 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

use the nuts for cannon balls and bullets, and 
when the battle is over the ground will be 
thick with perfectly good, sound nuts, and 
we shall not have even the trouble of hunt- 
ing for them, but can pick them up in any 
quantity/’ 

“ Why don’t we go and offer our services for 
the gathering of nuts, anyway ? ” asked the 
first little squirrel. 

‘'Oh, bother, who wants to work when he 
doesn’t have to ? ” 

" Yes, but Mother Nature’s been mighty good 
to us,” protested the first squirrel. “ When 
the baby squirrel in our nest was sick last 
year, and the little mother squirrel had so 
much to do. Mother Nature sent up a wood 
gnome to stay by the nest all the time, and 
see that we got everything that we needed. I 
think I’d like to help her now.” 

119 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


Well, all right. I suppose we might as 
well be doing that as anything else.^^ 

That was how it happened that two small 
squirrels appeared at the door of the wind 
cave, and told Mother Nature that they would 
like to help drag the little bark carts all around 
the forest. When other squirrels saw what 
was being done, they too offered to aid, and 
soon a whole small army of- squirrels was at 
work, gathering and selecting and stacking up 
the big nuts that were to give the fairies 
weapons to use against the enemy. 

Mother Nature picked out a number of elves 
to be captains. 

Each elf selected a group of tree fairies 
and wind fairies and elves for his company. 
Every company found a piece of good, level 
ground on which to build up a barrier of 
hard earth and moss. The wood gnomes 
120 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


looked after the weapons, and piled up 
swords and cannon balls, all ready to be 
handed out to the little fighters. It was 
like the preparations for a snow fight ; in 
fact, the fairies expected that the weapons of 
the ice elves would be snowballs and icicles. 

Down in Dame Nature’s cave there was a 
great bustling. For, you see, though Nature 
loves the housekeeper fairies and the little 
creatures of the forest, she must also be kind 
to the ice elves, who are Grandfather Winter’s 
own children. Therefore she must see that 
her own people are taken care of, but she 
must feed as well the company that is to 
come. Sooner or later Grandfather Winter 
himself will arrive at the cave door, and as 
he is a somewhat sharp old gentleman, every- 
thing must be in good order for him. The 
great fire must be put out, because Winter 
121 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


cannot stand heat, and then all the little 
fairies nearly freeze, and have to go out and 
hunt up moss blankets and leaf coverings 
under which to keep warm. 

Then, too. Grandfather Winter is very fond 
of the big Wind sons of Mother Nature. He 
likes to have them come into the cave with 
him, and then he tells them all manner of 
funny tales, in order to see how loudly they 
will howl with laughter. Poor Autumn once 
went into the cave, when his old father and 
his Wind cousins were there, and he nearly 
lost his beautiful suit of red-gold autumn 
leaves, so boisterous were they, and so roughly 
did they handle him. 

Mother Nature was very particular before 
she fixed her house for the visit of Winter, to 
have all the fairy babies taken away and put 
into snug little beds. You see there are a 
122 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


great many baby fairies each year, and they 
are kept warm and cozy in Mother Nature^s 
cave. But when the Winter is coming the 
good Mother sends all the babies to the woods 
and the fields, where they are tucked away in 
the hearts of the flower- and tree-buds that 
will grow up in the Springtime. There the 
babies sleep and grow, until the Spring wakes 
up and sends out her call for the flower fairies 
to come and prepare for the new glad world. 

All the little girl fairies who are not needed 
for the war with the ice elves are sent into 
the woods too, and there they go to bed under 
the piled-up dry leaves that have been taken 
off the trees by Autumn, and one and all 
they go to sleep until after the ice elves have 
gone away again. Some of the fairies must, 
of course, stay to help. There are sure to be 
wounded elves and wind fairies and wood 
123 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 



“ The Girl Fairies Must Be Nurses.” 

124 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


gnomes when the battle is over, and a few girl 
fairies must be nurses to dress their wounds 
and nurse them until they are well once more. 

So now the world is ready for the arrival 
of Winter. No one knows just when he will 
come. It may be in a few days or not for 
another month, and in the meantime Mother 
Nature keeps her fire lighted and roaring, and 
gives the fairies a vacation from their labors. 

So, while the boys and girls are celebrating 
Hallowe^en, and are eating the grapes that 
the fairies have made, and are cutting pump- 
kins into Jack o’ Lanterns — those big, fine 
pumpkins that the fairies built out in the 
fields — the tree elves are running through 
the woods searching for the goblins, chasing 
them out of their hiding-places in hollow tree- 
trunks, and driving them back to the wind 
cave to tell stories and give dances and play 
125 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


merry pranks. The goblins are strange little 
creatures. No one knows just where they be- 
long, but the fairies can always find them, and 
they are the really funny people of Fairy-land. 
Sometimes the goblins are not very good. 

Once there was a bad goblin who went into 
the house of a rich man, and stole away a 
tiny baby. But the fairies found the baby 
and carried him back to his parents ; then 
they found out who the naughty goblin was, 
and they tied him up in his tree-trunk for a 
whole winter. He got so cold and so lonely 
that he begged them to let him go. So they 
made him promise that he would never be 
naughty again, and then they set him free. 
But no more goblins were found taking babies. 

Now and again a few good-natured goblins 
find their way into the world of people, and 
let some good, kind artist who makes pictures 
126 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

for the books of the children draw them. 
And maybe a very nice poet-man or lady 
will see the goblins posing for the pictures, 
and will want to write verses or stories about 
them. Then the goblins will tell the poet- 
man or lady some of the secrets of goblin life, 
and presently the boys and the girls will have 
a brand new book, with wonderful goblin 
tales and rhymes, and pictures of these queer 
little people printed in gay colors. 



127 



JACK FROST MAKES 
A JOURNEY 


GH I it’s cold ! ” Little Boy shivered as 



he jumped out of his warm bed. He 
made a dash for the window, to put it down. 
The air that was blowing in was frosty, for sure. 

But what was Little Boy’s surprise to dis- 
cover, sitting on the window sill, a tiny, nut- 
brown, odd-shaped little individual that re- 
minded him of the pictures of Hop o’ My 
Thumb in the big book of fairy stories. 


128 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

“Who are you?’^ he asked, forgetting the 
cold in the eagerness of his curiosity. 

“ Oh, I^m a wood gnome,” squeaked the 
queer, little creature. “ May I come in ? ” 

“ Come on,” invited Little Boy, and shut 
down the window. 

Then Little Boy perched on the edge of the 
bed and the Brown Gnome jumped up beside 
him. 

“ Ever hear of Jack Frost? ” he asked Little 
Boy. 

“Oh, yes — he's Santa Claus’s son,” de- 
clared Little Boy proudly. 

“ Well — no. That may be what the books 
say. He’s really Old Man Winter’s eldest 
son. Santa Claus is Winter’s brother.” 

“ Then Jack Frost is Santa Claus’s nephew,” 
interrupted Little Boy. 

“ That’s right,” said the Gnome. “ Well, 

129 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

Jack Frost made a long journey last night. 
If you’d been awake you would have seen 
him passing this way.” 

‘'That’s too bad,” murmured Little Boy. 
“ What is he like ? ” 

“ Oh, he’s a giant of a fellow. Dresses all 
in white, that shines very brightly. He’s a 
fighter, he is, and he makes us little gnomes 
work terribly hard for his ice elves. That’s 
why we don’t like him.” 

“ What are ice elves ? ” Little Boy wanted 
to know. 

“ They are Jack Frost’s own people. They 
follow him wherever he goes, and then he 
gets the Wind Brothers to spread out their 
wings and carry his army of ice elves and 
snow fairies all over the world. But the 
Winds are jolly fellows and they like a good 
joke, so every little while they let their wings 
130 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

fall down and then all the snow fairies fall 
off and drop to the ground.’^ 

“ Why, that must be when it snows ! 
cried Little Boy, making a delightful dis- 
covery. 

“ Of course,’’ was the matter-of-fact com- 
ment. “ But maybe Jack Frost doesn’t get 
cross I Sometimes he gets into a big airship 
all made of heavy gray clouds and he chases 
these Winds until all of them are quite worn 
out.” 

Do you think Jack Frost will make it 
snow soon ? ” inquired Little Boy anxiously. 

I’ve broken my sled, and I’ll have to get 
Grandfather to fix it.” 

“Better hurry,” advised the Gnome. “I 
heard Jack Frost tell Mother Nature that he 
wanted to find the Winds right away. And 
that’s why I ran off. I’m a summer gnome, 
131 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 
but I was having such a good time with some 
squirrel nut gatherers that I got lost from my 
friends. I don't like cold weather and I 
won't work for Jack Frost, so I thought I'd 
hunt a place to keep cozy and warm. If I 
could find some nice, kind-hearted little boy, 
who would let me stay in his house, I'd be 
happy. In the Springtime of course I would 
go back to the woods." 

Oh, please stay with me. Mister Gnome," 
begged Little Boy, and the Gnome smiled 
very contentedly. 

“ You won't tell any one that I'm here?" 
he asked. 

At that Little Boy hesitated. I'd have 
to tell my mother," he said very seriously 
Well, mothers are reasonable beings," de- 
cided the Gnome. Only, if you tell your 
mother that I'm here, you must also tell her 
132 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

not to ask to see me. No one may see me 
but you.^’ 

“ All right,” promised Little Boy. Then 



with a sudden inspiration, Say, you don’t 
eat much, do you ? ” 

The Gnome laughed at this heartily. 

133 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


“ 1^11 take a thimbleful of milk and three 
crumbs of bread for breakfast/’ he said smil- 
ingly. 

Then Little Boy laughed too, and sighed 
relievedly. 

Where shall I put you ? ” he asked pres- 
ently. 

“ Just leave me here in the room. I’ll find 
quarters. Sometimes I can sleep in the toe 
of your boot, or under the counterpane on the 
bed, or in a corner of your bureau-drawer. 
You leave it to me. Every time you come 
into the room by yourself you give a cough 
and I’ll answer with a squeak.” 

That was how the Gnome came to live 
with Little Boy, and that winter Little Boy 
learned more about the flowers and the trees 
and the birds and the animals than he learned 
at any other time in his life. For the little 
134 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

Gnome loved to tell him all about the work 
of the gnomes and the housekeeper fairies, 
and Little Boy came to know whole dozens 
of the fairies’ names by heart. 

Meanwhile, Jack Frost found the Wind 
Brothers. 

“ Shake hands,” he cried. And do me a 
favor ! Father Winter wants me to bring 
down an army of ice elves and snow fairies. 
Won’t you carry them for me? ” 

So the Winds stopped just for a moment to 
tell Mother Nature where they were going, 
and then off they started. 

A few hours later the army of fairies was 
arranged ready for the coming of the Winter 
people. Each little company was stationed be- 
hind its breastworks, and the nut balls and bark 
swords were all placed well within their reach. 
135 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

Suddenly the air was filled with tiny flying 
particles, and presently, as the fluffy white 
things reached the ground, there stepped 
forth innumerable white, elf-like creatures. 
Each one ‘ carried a tiny ice spear, and when 
they were all banded together they made a 
rush at the moss barriers. 

Then began real warfare. Many a little ice 
elf fell, struck down by a nut bullet. And 
many a little tree fairy staggered and stum- 
bled, wounded by a tiny ice spear. But they 
kept up the fight until no one knew where 
were tree fairies or wind fairies or ice elves. 

Strangely enough, it was Santa Claus who 
played peacemaker. Up in his toy shop at 
the North Pole he heard about Jack Frost 
and his journey. Poor old gentleman I He 
was very much annoyed. 

'‘Just when I wanted the help of the 
136 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


fairies to make some of these Christmas toys/^ 
he grumbled. “ Why didn't they wait? 
There's lots of time for snow and ice. Why, 
not half the boys and girls will have sleds till 
after Christmas." 

Then Santa Claus had an idea I He went 
to his door and called a sea-gull to him. 

“ Go to Master Sun as quickly as ever you 
can," he commanded. “ Tell him that Santa 
Claus doesn't want the housekeeper fairies all 
to go away. But the ice elves and the snow 
people are chasing them. Ask Master Sun to 
shine as brightly as he can on the ice elf 
army, so that the elves won't be able to fight. 
Then go and tell Mother Nature to send a 
band of helper fairies to my shop down below 
in the old Eagle's cave. I need some for the 
toy-making." 

So the gull sailed away, and carried the 

137 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

message to the Sun. The task was much to 
that gentleman’s liking. 

'‘I never do like that Jack Frost crowd,” 
he said, and then he burst through a heavy 
cloud curtain and shone his brightest right 
over the battle-ground. 

And what do you think happened ? Every 
little ice spear melted away, and the ice elves 
had nothing to fight with. And then the 
fluffy dresses of the snow fairies began to turn 
into water, and the poor little things had to 
hide themselves away because their clothes 
would soon be gone. 

Jack Frost was furious. But he did not 
dare go near the Sun, or he too would have 
suffered from melting. So he gathered his 
people together and sent them all packing 
back to their home in the North. 

As they went the Sun laughed, and then 

138 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


Jack Frost cried angrily, “ You wait, Master 
Sun. Grandfather Winter is coming, and 
then you and he can settle this matter your- 
selves.” 



139 




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T0SMTA;CUU5 


O ANTA CLAUS put on his big fur over- 
coat and jumped into his sleigh. He 
shouted to his eight reindeer and the sled ran 
lightly over the ice away from the North 
Pole. 


143 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


Down in the old Eagle’s Cave a band of 
fairy housekeepers were eagerly waiting for 
Santa Claus to come. The gnomes had 
dragged in hundreds of Christmas trees, and 
were trying to trim some of them with bits 
of bright tinsel which they found in Santa 
Claus’s workroom. 

Well, well, well,” cried the jolly old fel- 
low. “ Here we are in spite of those naughty 
ice elves. But where’s the Rabbit?” he 
asked suddenly. 

He’ll be here,” spoke up a fairy. So 
will Gray Goose and the Wild Turkey and 
the Owl.” 

That’s fine,” said Santa. Now we’ll get 
right to work. Here are dolls to be painted 
and dressed, and sleds to be put together, and 
tree ornaments to make.” 

With that each fairy was given something 
144 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


to do. The little sewing fairies got out their 
pine needles and stitched busily away. The 
boy fairies found hammers of tree knots and 
worked willingly on the beautiful sleds. The 
tree elves and the wind fairies tossed together 
odd scraps of moon-silver and made wonder- 
ful things to hang on the trees. 

“ Let's each put a wish on our toys/' one 
small fairy suggested. 

Good I " cried old Santa. “ You wish 
first I " 

The little fairy was dressing a doll, many 
times bigger than herself. She stood by its 
head, and looking down into its pretty face, 
said : 

My wish will be that this dolly goes to 
some pink-cheeked, blue-eyed, flaxen-haired 
little girl, with a loving heart. I wish that 
the love which she has for her dolly will one 
145 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


day grow into a wonderful mother-love, and 
that she shall have a little girl of her own as 
sweetly perfect as this toy baby.’^ 



The Little Fairy Was Dressing a Doll.’^ 


** Good indeed,’^ commented Santa Claus. 
‘‘ You are a good little fairy.” 

146 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

Then one of the elves at work on a sled 
began : 

I hope that the lad who gets this sled will 
be a boy all his life. I wish him a young 
heart, so that he will never know what it is 
to feel old and cranky and tired of life.^^ 

And so the fairies and the elves wished on, 
while they worked for the good boys and girls 
who would soon receive all these wonderful 
gifts from Santa Claus. 

You are fine little workers, all of you,^^ 
said Santa Claus. “ And I^m going to give 
you all a reward when I make my visits on 
Christmas Eve. I^m going to take as many 
of you as can hold on in my sleigh, and you 
can see for yourselves some of the children 
for whom you have been making presents.” 

That was how it came about that on Christ- 
mas Eve many a boy and girl dreamed of a 
147 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


fairy visitor who kissed his or her cheek and 
whispered “ Merry Christmas ” in their ears. 

And one little fairy got lost. She found 
herself tucked away in a stocking and she 
could not make any one hear her. So she 
finally went to sleep, and when the child 
whose stocking she was in came to empty the 
stocking out tumbled the fairy. But she ran 
away so quickly that the little girl caught 
only a glimpse of her. 

It was a real fairy,’' she insisted, however, 
when her brothers and sisters laughed at her. 
“ And she’s left her little cap,” she exclaimed 
triumphantly. 

Sure enough, there was the tiny peaked cap 
made out of a red leaf. The little girl kept it 
all her life and told her children how one 
time a very wonderful thing happened to her 
— for a fairy was hidden by Santa Claus in 
148 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


her stocking. And that’s how the children 
knew that the fairies came visiting with 
Santa. 



149 



WHEN 
OLD WINTER 
ARRIVES 


'^TTTE'RE going to have a white Christ- 
^ ^ mas, after all,” Father John said to 
Mother Mary. 

“ How nice ! ” exclaimed the little mother. 

Now Jack can use his sled and his rubber 
boots, and Helen can try the new pony in the 
sleigh.” 

Sure enough, at the very last moment, 
when Santa Claus was all through giving out 
150 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


his gifts, old Grandfather Winter suddenly 
got up out of his great armchair and stamped 
his feet in a temper. 

Christmas and no snow I It^s all wrong ; 
it’s outrageous I That Santa Claus brother 
of mine always tries to make me have a green 
Christmas. I will not do it again. Come 
here,” he shouted to Jack Frost, who was 
busy drilling the ice elves before the door of 
the big mountain house. 

Yes? ” asked Jack. 

Gather together these people of yours and 
get out the cloud-ships. I’m going into the 
world and let the folks there know that I’m 
still alive ! ” 

“But your rheumatism, father?” Jack 
Frost ventured to say. 

“ I haven’t any rheumatism ! ” old Winter 

shouted. “ Where’s that telephone ? ” 

151 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


** I’ll call for you,” offered Jack. 

Get the North Wind and the East Wind 
and then the Cloudshed. Tell the Winds I 
want them to go out and set the trees tossing 
and the clouds rolling. I’m coming in my 
big ship and you are coming in yours, and 
we’re bringing our whole army. Then tell 
the Sun that he’d better take a few days’ vaca- 
tion, and call up Mother Nature and tell her 
to put her fairy children away out of sight. 
I don’t want any battles or war. Let them all 
go to sleep in peace while we show the world 
a few of the things old Winter can still do.” 

When Mother Nature got the message, she 
sent for all the fairy housekeepers that were 
still with her. 

'' My children,” she said, Grandfather 
Winter is coming to-morrow. He’s bringing 
all the ice elves in his kingdom and a whole 
152 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

host of snow people. But we are not to fight. 
I want you all to go quietly to your little 
nests in the woods and along the rivers and 
tuck yourselves up for a good sleep. When I 
need you again I will come and wake you up 
or send somebody to call you. Keep your- 
selves warm, for we shall have a cold, dreary 
world for a while.” 

So the little fairies and their companions, 
the elves, scattered among the trees and the 
shrubs, and climbed under the rocks, and 
built camping-places beneath the fences. 
And they drew their blankets of moss and 
dry leaves around them and went off to sleep 
like good, obedient children. 

Then Mother Nature spoke to the South 
Wind: 

“ I want you to blow up a great pile of 
leaves before the door where Queen Spring is 
153 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


sleeping. The cold mast not get into her 
cave. One day I suppose Jack Frost will 
find her, and then she will wake, but that 
must not be too soon. I count on you to pro- 
tect her.'' 

The South Wind was only too glad to do as 
his mother wished and his soft brushing to- 
gether of leaves made sweet music under the 
tall cliff. 

Mother Nature went back to her cave and 
called to the Rain to come and put out her 
fire. He came in a hurry. 

I must be quick," he said. If old 
Winter catches me he’ll lock me up be- 
hind walls of ice and there's no telling how 
long it will be before I shall be free again." 

But soon the fire was out, and Mother 
Nature was standing by her door in a great 
coat of bearskin. Even as she stood there 
154 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 



Mother Nature Was Standing by Her Door in a 
Great Coat of Bearskin.” 

155 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


she could hear the loud laughter of her noisy 
sons, the East and the North Winds, coming 
nearer. 

Gradually the sky grew darker, and then 
she saw a great mass of clouds dropping 
lower and lower. She shivered, for it seemed 
to be very cold. 

Suddenly Grandfather Winter stood beside 
her. 

“Good-day,^’ he said, gruffly. Winter 
meant to be kind, but his voice was very 
rough. “ And how is Dame Nature ? he 
asked, trying to be polite. 

Very well,” answered Nature. Come in 
and rest after your journey,” 

To tell the truth Winter was already tired. 
He had started out with such energy that he 
was wearing himself out. 

Where’s that son of mine ? ” he shouted. 

156 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


** Here I am,” spoke up Jack Frost. 

Well, while I rest, you get together a 
big snow-storm — I want a regular blizzard, 
mind you.” 

“ But father, this is Christmas Day. A 
blizzard may not be pleasing to the people 
of the world.” 

“ There shall be a blizzard, I tell you,” 
the old man commanded. “ A big, old- 
fashioned blizzard. Freeze up every pond 
and river and build great snowdrifts. The 
boys and girls will like it,” he laughed glee- 
fully. 

So Jack Frost made a really, truly bliz- 
zard, and people looked out of their win- 
dows and wondered how they would ever 
be able to get about. 

But the boys had a glorious time. They 
took their new sleds and coasted through 
157 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


the thickly flying snow ; they made great 
stacks of snowballs and had merry snow 
battles. And when the snow had stopped 
falling, the older boys and girls put on 
their skates and had gay parties on the 
ice-bound streams. 

The ice elves hung all the trees in the 
woods with long beautiful ice spears, and 
the snow fairies spread a white carpet of 
soft, pure snow all over the ground. Under- 
neath this carpet the fairy sleepers dreamed 
on, remembering in their dreams the won- 
derful coronation day of Spring, the fun that 
they had at the May-Party, and the good 
things which appeared after the wedding of 
the Summer to the Spring. 

Back in the wind cave Grandfather Winter 
dozed by the empty fireplace. Mother Na- 
ture sat beside him and wondered how long 
158 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

he would stay. For dear Mother Nature 
really loves and enjoys the reigns of the 
Spring and the Summer much better than she 
loves the time during which Winter is King. 
Suddenly she heard a jolly voice speaking. 

Hello, where is every one ? 

And there was the Sun, as merry as ever, 
turning the white world to a land of rainbow 
colors and sparkling gems as he threw out 
his rays over the snow. 

“ Grandfather Winter is sleeping,^^ said 
Dame Nature. 

“ Why not gather him up and send him 
back to his own home ? ’’ suggested the Sun. 
Just then Jack Frost came up. 

“ Go away. Master Sun,” he cried gaily. 
“ Don't spoil my new white suit.” 

When he saw old Winter sleeping, he 

called the North Wind : 

159 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

Pick him up and take him home. He^s 
all tired out, poor soul. I’ll run this Winter 
Kingdom.’^ 

Thereupon Grandfather Winter was care- 
fully carried home on the North Wind’s 
broad wings. And Jack Frost had a merry 
reign, in which the ice elves and the snow 
fairies became really friendly with the chil- 
dren, and even the old Sun was willing to 
let them alone — for a while, at least. 



160 



A BIRD STORY 


'"I ''WO little birds sat on the branch of an 
elm-tree, and gossiped together. One 
little bird had just flown up from the South. 
The other little bird had been looking around 
to see what signs there might be of the early 
arrival of Spring. 

Said the Lady-Bird : 

I found the cave in which Queen Spring 
has been lying through the Winter. There’s 
a green elf there who told me that Jack Frost 
161 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

and the South Wind had quite a battle the 
other dsiyP 

“ So the South Wind is still in love with 
the Spring ? ” asked the little Man-Bird. 

“ Oh, my, yes. They say that he never 
leaves the neighborhood of the cave unless 
Mother Nature actually sends for him.^^ 

‘‘ What happened to Jack Frost? 

Well, you see, there is a story that the 
Spring cannot come back to life unless the 
Frost kisses her. Jack Frost has been look- 
ing all over this part of the world for the 
place where they put the Queen when she 
died. An old, old fairy, who lives under a 
big rock not far from the sea, told Jack Frost 
that he must find the Spring before he could 
go home. And old Winter has been sending 
every sort of message to Jack Frost to come 
back North again. Winter has been ill, and 
162 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

he wants his son to attend to some business 
for him. Jack Frost knows that nobody 
cares much how soon he goes away, for 
people don^t like the Winter, and they think 
that the ice elves and the snow fairies have 
done enough mischief as it is. 

So Jack Frost went to Mother Nature 
and asked where he could find Spring. But 
Mother Nature would not tell him. She said 
that he would have to find Spring himself, 
or the charm would not work. As a matter 
of fact. Mother Nature herself may not know 
where the Spring goes after she wakes. 

‘‘ So Jack went out and gathered together 
his ice elves, and together they made a 
thorough search. 

One day Jack Frost met the South Wind. 

“‘Do you know where Spring is Jack 
asked. 


163 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


< Why do you wish to know ? ’ the South 
Wind questioned. 

‘ I want to see her.' 

“ But the South Wind only laughed and 
seemed to think that he had a good joke on 
Jack Frost. 

“ After that Jack Frost had the South Wind 
followed, and in this way he found the cave. 
When the South Wind went off on an errand 
Jack Frost went into the cave. He found 
the Spring, and I guess that she must have 
looked very sweet. For the green elf says 
that Jack fell right down on his knees beside 
her couch and caught her up in his arms, 
and kissed her. Just then the South Wind 
came back, and when he saw Spring opening 
her eyes as Jack Frost held her, he was so 
angry that he blew a great whiff of warm 
breeze right in Jack Frost's face. Now you 
164 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


know Jack Frost can’t stand anything warm, 
and he lost all his strength in an instant. 
The South Wind simply chased him away 
from the cave, and poor Jack was found by a 
band of ice elves lying down among the trees, 
unable even to walk. The ice elves picked 
him up and carried him until his strength 
came back. But he sent Mother Nature 
word that he was off for the North Pole and 
wouldn’t be back for a long while. That was 
when we had the big thaw.” 

“ Where did the Spring go?” 

“ Nobody knows. The elf said that the 
West Wind took her up on his great wings 
and flew away with her. When I went back 
to the cave there was a band of wood gnomes 
scattering the dead leaves that were piled up 
to make a couch for the Spring.” 

“ That looks as if Spring might come back 
165 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

to the world rather soon,” said the other little 
bird reflectively. 

“ I think she will. Only, of course, Mother 
Nature will have to get the housekeeper fair- 
ies busy first.” 

How long have the flower and leaf fairies 
been asleep ? ” 

** Oh, they’ve been wrapped up in their 
blankets for several months. The wood 
gnomes and the tree elves have done all 
the work that has been done lately in the 
woods and the fields. They don’t mind the 
cold ; and they do not require much sleep. 
It’s the baby fairies that were hidden away in 
the buds that must grow a little larger before 
they are ready to come out and take up their 
share of the work. Mother Nature will let a 
great many of the older housekeeper fairies 
rest this year. She’s making up some nice 
166 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

little homes in the smaller shore caves where 
they can put together materials for the other 
fairies to use.’^ 

I have often wondered what becomes of 
the fairies who no longer help with the 
housekeeping work. Each year there are so 
many new fairies that Mother Nature must 
have a hard time knowing what to do with 
those whose places are filled by younger 
fairies.^' 

“ Well, I asked the Owl one time about 
that, and he said that a fairy only lives for a 
few years. The baby fairies are nursed in the 
flower and leaf buds ; then they have a year 
or two of fine strength. That is when they 
are of real use to Mother Nature. But after 
that they begin to get tired and a little faded, 
and presently they curl up, and the winds 
carry them away. Where, 1 don’t know, but 
167 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


I suppose they must just drift away into space 
finally.” 

“ Well, I think I’d rather be a bird than 
a fairy, anyway,” the other little bird an- 
nounced in conclusion. 

After that both little birds were quiet for a 
while. The Man-Bird smoothed his feathers 
carefully, and the Lady-Bird stole shy little 
peeps at her companion. 

At last the little Man-Bird said : 

I know where there’s a fine place for a 
nest up in this tree.” 

“ Do you ? ” asked the Lady-Bird. 

^‘Do you like me?” said the little Man- 
Bird, a bit suddenly. 

'' Do you like me ? ” the Lady-Bird twit- 
tered. 

''I like you better than any little bird I 
have ever seen,” declared the Man-Bird. 

168 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


And I think you’re quite the handsom- 
est bird I have seen,” responded the little 
Lady-Bird. 

Let’s build a nest up in the tree,” sug- 
gested the little Man-Bird. 

“ I think I’d like to,” answered the Lady- 
Bird. 

So it happened that a squirrel, frisking 
around the old elm-tree some weeks later, 
heard funny little squeaks. He looked up 
and saw a birds’ nest, and when he peeped over 
the side, there was a dainty little Lady-Bird in 
the nest, with three tiny baby birds beside her. 

“ Do tell me what’s happening in the 
world,” said the Lady-Bird. “ My husband 
is a dear, good man, but he doesn’t bring me 
much news.” 

“ Well,” said the squirrel, yesterday we 
169 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


heard that the Spring was having her new 
dress made. Mother Nature is getting ready 
to wake up the fairies once more.’^ 

“ I’m so glad,” murmured the little Lady- 
Bird. “ Fm hoping that my babies will soon 
be big enough to help pull the Queen Spring’s 
coronation car. It’s my highest ambition for 
them,” she sighed. 



170 



aONE 
'JTTLE 

'HOUSEKEEPER 
,5AYS 


FAREWELL 


** T AM only a little housekeeper fairy. But 
I want the boys and girls to know one 
of us by name. My name is Windflower, be- 
cause I stay most of the time with the winds 
when they work and play among the flowers. 
I am just two years old. I woke to life in a 
spring leaf-bud, and when Mother Nature sent 
the Spring with her magic wand into the 
woods, the leaf-bud in which I lay burst open. 
My first bath was in a pool of sunshine, and 
my first meal was a drop of arbutus dew. 

171 



THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


In my first Spring kingdom I worked 
among the flowers with a lot of other fairies. 
In the Summer kingdom I brushed the fields 
and dried the grain after thunder-storms. 
When Autumn came, I aided in blowing the 
leaves off the trees, and when the news ar- 
rived that Jack Frost had started travelling, I 
rolled myself under the shadows of the cave 
where Spring slept. 

In my second year I helped to make the 
Spring Queen’s dress. Then I blew perfume 
into roses and honeysuckle. In the Autumn 
I shined nuts, and I fell asleep under a great 
pile of dead leaves down by the river. 

A few days ago something woke me. I 
think that it was the chirp of a bird. As 
soon as I had scrambled out of my leaf 
blankets I saw that the world was being 
made fresh and green. But Mother Nature 
172 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 

has not sent for me, and so I know that this 
year I shall do no housekeeping. I am mak- 
ing myself a new green dress, and soon I shall 
go down to the wind cave. Perhaps Mother 
Nature will let me help her to spin. If not 
I shall ask the South Wind to carry me away 
on his wings. 

There is a work for the fairies that the 
world knows little about. It is the work of 
making the children happy. I shall go 
where there are little ones, and Mother Na- 
ture will let me stay as long as life lasts. I 
want to find a good little boy or girl who 
loves fairies and fairy stories. Maybe you 
know some one like this. If you do, please 
send me ^ letter to Fairy-land right away, be- 
fore the South Wind comes around. I’ll fol- 
low the directions you send. If you never 
hear from me again you will know that I am 
173 


THE FAIRY HOUSEKEEPERS 


keeping watch over some baby, or that I have 
sailed off to the clouds to live with some of 
the other fairies up in the rainbow.” 



174 





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